London’s legendary double-decker buses will be electric

Transportation for London Company has signed an agreement with BYD in order which next generation London’s buses will be powered by electric batteries. Additionally, some of the old double-decker buses will be converted into electric.

The United Kingdom is definitely the unique place: it consists of four countries (more likely you won’t see such thing any other place), there is queen that not really reign, but still British people like to have her on their side, and finally – red double-decker buses with flag of the UK on the roof – extremely fancy thing.

Hence, Transportation for London (TfL) Company, known for their iconic red, double-decker buses, has signed an agreement with Chinese BYD Company, in order to which next-gen London’s buses will be powered by electric batteries – cool, isn’t it?

Transport for London said the Chinese-built bus would be the world’s first purpose-built electric double-decker.

The announcement took place at this week's C40: Clean Bus Summit held at London City Hall. Breaking the news was the Mayor of London, Boris Johnson.

"Many believed that a pure electric double-decker bus would not be possible due to the size of the battery packs required to power it," said Mayor Johnson. "However by working with BYD and utilizing the latest cutting edge technology London has been able to secure another world first. The new electric double-decker trial will see the zero emission double-decker buses manufactured by BYD enter service on Route 16 from October."

Also addressing the Clean Bus Summit was BYD's Managing Director of European Operations, Isbrand Ho.

"We are delighted to be chosen by London as its partner for the world debut of our new pure electric double-decker. As the Mayor has said, this is genuinely world-beating new technology," said Ho. "Since BYD is by far the world's largest maker of zero-emission pure electric buses and as such is keen to promote their take up and use as quickly as possible we are also pleased to have today supported the Declaration and pledged BYD to helping promote zero – not just ultra low – emission vehicles on the streets of the world's major cities."

Benefits from using Chinese buses

BYD's Battery Electric bus employs many advanced technologies developed in-house by a staff of more than 15,000 R&D engineers including the BYD Iron-Phosphate Battery which boasts the only 12-year-battery warranty in the industry. Combined with BYD's proprietary hub motors and regenerative braking system, the BYD battery electric bus offers the lowest life cycle cost of ownership.

The BYD electric bus delivers a host of operational and environmental benefits for public transit riders, bus operators and residents of the community – it is very quiet and ensures a comfortable ride without vibrations, jerks or the noise associated with the conventional buses and combustion engines. The bus can additionally drive for more than 155 miles (250 kilometers) even in heavy city traffic on a single charge. As of April 1st, 2015, BYD bus fleets have completed greater than 50 million miles "in revenue service" and have been evaluated by more than 150 cities in 36 countries around the world.

As of now, BYD has built over 5,000 electric buses globally, making it by far the most popular electric transit vehicle on the planet.

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When 'll we see these brand-new buses on the streets?

As we previously mentioned, the first fully electric double-decker bus will enter service in October.

The bus will run on route 16, which operates between Cricklewood, north-west London, and Victoria station.

Well, good luck with that one.

The less air pollution levels are, the better it is.

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At a global clean bus summit at City Hall in London, 24 cities pledged to roll out 40,000 low-emission buses by the end of the decade.

TfL promised that all new buses in London would comply with the ultra-low emission zone that comes into effect from 2020 – a tacit admission that the first hybrid Routemasters commissioned by the mayor, Boris Johnson, will breach the zone’s limits, and are more polluting than the vehicles that have now become available.